it might have helped him win the election. it was very close. >> now, one of the things that, again, you have this period of immense domestic turmoil and foreign turmoil, and it would be natural for a leader to feel besieged, as you said. i'm wondering how much of that he brought with him, and i'm thinking back to, again, the story you lay out so beautifully. he doesn't seem to have a lot of friends in the 1950s. >> no. his friends were, his california friends, the drowns, and i think bob and carol finch were very good friends. even though finch was sort of pushed, when fib. came the -- finch came to work with him, he was sort of pushed out. but he was, um, he was, he was sort of a friendless, lonely man in many ways. and particularly as president. but i think the key to him, the key to his failure as a president were two things. sort of the combination of having great power, enormous power which he'd never had before, and you can see him exercise it after he's elected. some of these loony memos addressed to mrs. nixon from th